Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

List of Journal Abbreviations

List of Journal Abbreviations

Introduction: The Classical Genre of Quran Commentary, Exegetical Authority, and Gender

Introduction: The Classical Genre of Quran Commentary, Exegetical Authority, and Gender

Chapter 1 Constructions of Gender in Pre-modern Quran Commentaries

Chapter 1 Constructions of Gender in Pre-modern Quran Commentaries

1 What is a Mukhannath? Gender in Late Antiquity

1 What is a Mukhannath? Gender in Late Antiquity

2 Gender in Quran Commentaries from the Formative and Medieval Periods

2 Gender in Quran Commentaries from the Formative and Medieval Periods

2.1 Q 4:1—“And We created you from a single soul . . .”

2.1 Q 4:1—“And We created you from a single soul . . .”

2.2 Q 4:34—“Men are in charge of women . . .”

2.2 Q 4:34—“Men are in charge of women . . .”

2.3 Q 43:18—“Someone who is brought up amongst trinkets . . .”

2.3 Q 43:18—“Someone who is brought up amongst trinkets . . .”

3 Gender, Authority and the Wives of Muḥammad

3 Gender, Authority and the Wives of Muḥammad

3.1 Q 33:6—“. . . as his wives are their mothers . . .”

3.1 Q 33:6—“. . . as his wives are their mothers . . .”

3.2 Q 33:34—“Remember what is recited in your homes . . .”

3.2 Q 33:34—“Remember what is recited in your homes . . .”

Chapter 2 From Unwitting Source to Quran Commentator: Gender and Early Transhistorical Exegetical Communities

Chapter 2 From Unwitting Source to Quran Commentator: Gender and Early Transhistorical Exegetical Communities

1 Transhistorical Exegetical Communities

1 Transhistorical Exegetical Communities

2 Gender and Exegesis in the Second/Eighth Century

2 Gender and Exegesis in the Second/Eighth Century

2.1 Āthār-Based Exegetical Works

2.1 Āthār-Based Exegetical Works

2.1.1 The Tafsīr Sufyān al-Thawrī

2.1.1 The Tafsīr Sufyān al-Thawrī

2.1.2 The Jāmiʿ of ʿAbdallāh b. Wahb

2.1.2 The Jāmiʿ of ʿAbdallāh b. Wahb

2.1.3 The Tafsīr ʿAbd al-Razzāq

2.1.3 The Tafsīr ʿAbd al-Razzāq

2.1.4 The Tafsīr Mujāhid b. Jabr, as transmitted by Ādam b. Abī Iyās

2.1.4 The Tafsīr Mujāhid b. Jabr, as transmitted by Ādam b. Abī Iyās

2.2 Material Attributed to Women in Linguistically-Focused Exegetical Works

2.2 Material Attributed to Women in Linguistically-Focused Exegetical Works

2.2.1 The Majāz al-Quran of Abū ʿUbayda

2.2.1 The Majāz al-Quran of Abū ʿUbayda

2.2.2 The Maʿānī l-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ

2.2.2 The Maʿānī l-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ

2.2.3 The Maʿānī l-Qurʾān of al-Akhfash

2.2.3 The Maʿānī l-Qurʾān of al-Akhfash

2.3 The Tafsīr Yaḥyā b. Sallām

2.3 The Tafsīr Yaḥyā b. Sallām

Chapter 3 Negotiating Interpretive Authority in Second/Eighth and Early Third/Ninth Century Exegesis: Shifting Historical Contexts

Chapter 3 Negotiating Interpretive Authority in Second/Eighth and Early Third/Ninth Century Exegesis: Shifting Historical Contexts

1 Female Figures as Vehicles for Debating Hermeneutics

1 Female Figures as Vehicles for Debating Hermeneutics

1.1 A Continuum of Interpretive Intentionality

1.1 A Continuum of Interpretive Intentionality

1.1.1 Entirely Unwitting Sources: Female Poets and Anonymous Speakers

1.1.1 Entirely Unwitting Sources: Female Poets and Anonymous Speakers

1.1.2 Witting, Unwitting, or Somewhere in Between?: Female Sources of Āthār and Ḥadīths

1.1.2 Witting, Unwitting, or Somewhere in Between?: Female Sources of Āthār and Ḥadīths

1.1.3 Apparently Witting: Female Sources of Quranic Readings

1.1.3 Apparently Witting: Female Sources of Quranic Readings

1.1.4 Constructing Wittingness: Controversy Traditions and Hierarchization Traditions

1.1.4 Constructing Wittingness: Controversy Traditions and Hierarchization Traditions

2 Post-Companion Female Sources of Exegetical Materials

2 Post-Companion Female Sources of Exegetical Materials

Chapter 4 Ḥadīth, Hermeneutics and Gender in the Third/Ninth and Fourth/Tenth Centuries

Chapter 4 Ḥadīth, Hermeneutics and Gender in the Third/Ninth and Fourth/Tenth Centuries

1 Ḥadīth Compilers and Quranic Exegesis: A Gendered Intervention

1 Ḥadīth Compilers and Quranic Exegesis: A Gendered Intervention

1.1 The Tafsīr Chapter of al-Bukhārī

1.1 The Tafsīr Chapter of al-Bukhārī

1.2 A Note on the Tafsīr Chapter of Muslim

1.2 A Note on the Tafsīr Chapter of Muslim

1.3 The Tafsīr Chapter of al-Tirmidhī

1.3 The Tafsīr Chapter of al-Tirmidhī

1.4 The Tafsīr Chapter of al-Nasāʾī

1.4 The Tafsīr Chapter of al-Nasāʾī

1.5 The Tafsīr Chapter of al-Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī

1.5 The Tafsīr Chapter of al-Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī

2 From Prominence to Pre-eminence: ʿĀʾisha as a Source

2 From Prominence to Pre-eminence: ʿĀʾisha as a Source

2.1 Women as Sources of Ḥadīths on Theological-Exegetical Topics

2.1 Women as Sources of Ḥadīths on Theological-Exegetical Topics

2.2 Women as Sources of Narrative

2.2 Women as Sources of Narrative

2.3 Women as Sources of Theo-Political Traditions

2.3 Women as Sources of Theo-Political Traditions

2.4 Women as Sources of Legal Materials

2.4 Women as Sources of Legal Materials

2.5 Women as Sources of Eschatological and Pietistic Traditions

2.5 Women as Sources of Eschatological and Pietistic Traditions

2.6 Women as Sources of Variant Readings

2.6 Women as Sources of Variant Readings

2.7 Women as Sources of merit-of-sūra Traditions

2.7 Women as Sources of merit-of-sūra Traditions

3 Tafsīr as ḥadīth Narration?

3 Tafsīr as ḥadīth Narration?

4 Afterword: Ḥadīth as Tafsīr’s Shadow

4 Afterword: Ḥadīth as Tafsīr’s Shadow

Chapter 5 Constructing the Abode of the Mothers of the Believers: Gendered Exegetical Gazes

Chapter 5 Constructing the Abode of the Mothers of the Believers: Gendered Exegetical Gazes

1 From House-Mosque to Heterotopia: The Abode of the Mothers of the Believers

1 From House-Mosque to Heterotopia: The Abode of the Mothers of the Believers

2 Constructing the Primary Exegetical Gaze

2 Constructing the Primary Exegetical Gaze

2.1 Q 33:53 in Sunni Exegesis: Transparent Seclusion?

2.1 Q 33:53 in Sunni Exegesis: Transparent Seclusion?

3 Constructing the Secondary Exegetical Gaze

3 Constructing the Secondary Exegetical Gaze

3.1 Pietistic Traditions: Mediating Muḥammad

3.1 Pietistic Traditions: Mediating Muḥammad

3.2 Legal-Exegetical Traditions: Negotiating Gender and Communal Identity

3.2 Legal-Exegetical Traditions: Negotiating Gender and Communal Identity

3.2.1 Negotiating Gender: Veiling and Seclusion

3.2.1 Negotiating Gender: Veiling and Seclusion

3.2.2 Negotiating Communal Identity: Sexual Acts

3.2.2 Negotiating Communal Identity: Sexual Acts

4 The Secondary Exegetical Gaze, Autonomy, and Authority

4 The Secondary Exegetical Gaze, Autonomy, and Authority

4.1 “. . . Why are we not mentioned in the recitation as men are mentioned?”

4.1 “. . . Why are we not mentioned in the recitation as men are mentioned?”

Chapter 6 (Re)constructions of the Sacred Past, Gender, and Exegesis: Some Medieval Trajectories

Chapter 6 (Re)constructions of the Sacred Past, Gender, and Exegesis: Some Medieval Trajectories

1 “. . . [N]or teach them to write . . .”: Discourses of Inclusion and Exclusion

1 “. . . [N]or teach them to write . . .”: Discourses of Inclusion and Exclusion

2 Early Muslim Female Figures, Isnāds, and Medieval Tafsīr Works

2 Early Muslim Female Figures, Isnāds, and Medieval Tafsīr Works

3 By and through the Isnād: Women on the Margins of Tafsīr

3 By and through the Isnād: Women on the Margins of Tafsīr

Conclusion

Conclusion

Bibliography

Bibliography

Index of Quranic References

Index of Quranic References

General Index

General Index